Aura's Chains
Aura's Chains is an upcoming video game from Candy Dynamics for the Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 currently in development. It is the sequel and follow-up to Aura's Junkyard for the Wii U, V², and Nintendo Switch. The game does not have a set release date at the moment, but it is expected to release in Q4 2019. Plot A full transcript of the story cutscenes can be found here. In a dimly lit room, a court trial is taking place. Several voices can be heard around the room discussing the trial, but the sources of the voices cannot be seen. The single light in the center of the room goes out just before the final verdict. Aura Synesthesia wakes up from this dream in a white, isolated room, confused as to where she is. She tries to move but notices that she is chained to the wall of the room, and she attempts to yell for help. However, as she yells, she notices that the sound doesn't travel through the bars in the room and concludes that yelling won't help. As she sees the bars, she realizes that she must be in a prison cell but doesn't know why she would be in prison. Suddenly, Aura hears a voice from a small hole in the wall that explains to her that she's been trapped in Plagued Prison, a highly advanced prison that extracts the memories of its prisoners and transforms them into memories of events that have yet to occur. Aura asks the voice why they were imprisoned, and the person tells her that they had been wanted by the organization in charge of the prison for a long time for "countless horrible crimes" that they have come to regret and that the only reason they're still alive is because their memories of future events are "highly valuable" to the organization. Aura is scared by the thought that she might have been imprisoned for committing some horrible crime that she can't remember like the person on the other side of her cell was. Aura tries to escape the chains that she's tied up in, but the voice behind the wall tells her not to struggle as the chains will only tighten and start to dig into her skin if she does. She then has the idea to start cycling through her many Auras in hopes of getting loose, which the voice suggests might be worth trying. As she changes Auras, the chains start to dig into her skin as the voice had warned, but she is eventually able to break free from their grasp. However, as she breaks free, she notices that changing Auras not only caused the chains to be etched into her back, but also gave her the ability to control the chains as a part of her body similar to a new pair of limbs. Scared of this, she explains this to the voice, who tells her that there are rumors that the prison contains portals to other worlds and suggests that she should find one leading to a hospital to see a doctor about the chains if she can find a way to leave the cell. She sees a vent in the corner and climbs up using the chains in her back, escaping through the vents to search for a portal. Gameplay Aura's Chains borrows much from its predecessor yet also changes in many aspects. The game remains a 2D platformer but dabbles a bit more into the "collectathon" genre, featuring collectibles scattered around levels that the player will have to collect in order to progress in the game. Levels are generally larger than they were in the first game and less linear to the point where they actually have a more "circular" level design, many points of level maps connected to other parts of the level and eventually forming a loop. Some sub-level areas, like those found through doors, are more linear and only have a few collectibles inside of them, but they generally remain part of the main world. Though the player has to acquire a set amount of collectibles to advance the game's story, it is mostly up to the player which specific collectibles are obtained during the course of the game. The way Aura controls is near identical to the way she does in the original's ports to the V² and Nintendo Switch aside from new features and some altered button layouts. Aura has a health bar that depletes when enemies attack her, usually taking away 10-30% of her health. When the bar reaches zero, Aura is set back to the last checkpoint. The left analog stick is used for movement, and the right analog stick can move the camera in any direction. The bottommost face button of the controller is used to jump, and the leftmost is used for a basic attack. The remaining top and rightmost buttons are used for different special attacks depending on the current form of Aura, the topmost using a main ability and the rightmost utilizing her chains. Changing Aura's form is now done by use of the shoulder buttons on the controller, and the right and left triggers will activate attacks using Aura's chains. Finally, the D-Pad can be used as an alternate movement option. Many "quality of life" changes have been made since the first game as well. Holding down one of the shoulder buttons will pull up a quick menu similar to the first game's dropdown menu that allows the player to quickly select the form that they desire for Aura to take by selecting it with the left stick, and the ability to change into a "recommended" form by pressing both shoulder buttons at once can be turned on in the options menu. The player can also change the order the forms are switched to in and can change the order to include less than twelve separate forms, though this will not affect the quick menu. Playable Characters Auras |-style="background-color: indianred" | Red Aura |Red Aura's sense of humor has grown a lot, even if she's not willing to admit it. | |-style="background-color: sandybrown" | Orange Aura |Orange Aura is still rather reckless, but she mostly likes to keep to herself nowadays. | |} Worlds Bosses Enemies Items Trivia *In April 2017, the game was announced under the title of Aura's Chromatic Chronicles. The game was vastly different at this point in development, with a time travel plot, four new playable characters (Violet Palate, Death IV, Ramona Cassette, and an original character named Lula who was intended to be the adopted daughter of Aura and Violet), and a baton gimmick that would later be replaced by the chains. The one aspect that seems to have carried over from the original game is seemingly the addition of Brown and Gray Auras. Category:Games Category:Fan Games Category:Nintendo Switch Games Category:PlayStation 4 Games Category:Platforming Games Category:2D Platforming Games Category:2D Games Category:Original Games Category:Sequels Category:Candy Dynamics